Page:Democratic Ideals and Reality (1919).djvu/33

Rh inveteracy of habit, he would make little progress otherwise. But he is a bad supreme master, because of his 'ways and means' mind.

The Nemesis of democratic idealism, if it break from the bonds of reality, is the supreme rule of the organiser and of blind efficiency. The organiser begins innocently enough; his executive mind revolts from the disorder, and above all from the indiscipline around him. Soldierly efficiency undoubtedly saved Revolutionary France. But such is the impetus of the going concern, that it sweeps forward even its own creator. To improve the efficiency of his man-power he must in the end seek to control all its activities—working and thinking, no less than fighting. He is in supreme command, and inefficiency is pain to him. Therefore Napoleon added to his Grand Army and his Code Civil, also his Concordat with the Papacy, whereby the priest was to become his servant. He might have enjoyed lasting peace after the Treaty of Amiens, but must needs continue to prepare war. Finally he was impelled to his Moscow, just as a great money maker will overreach himself and end in bankruptcy.

Bismarck was the Napoleon of the Prussians, their man of blood and iron, yet he differed